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I'm back!
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tooki
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Aug 23, 2008, 10:11 AM
 
Hey all,

After nearly 2 years with a certain electronics company we all know and love, I have quit work to plan and execute our move back to Switzerland. As such, I am now free to post on Mac-related forums.

I do not currently have any plans to pursue an administrative position here at 'NN -- I don't have the time for that. But maybe it'll be good, you guys can all re-meet me just as a friend!

Best regards,
antonio
     
Laminar
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Aug 23, 2008, 10:27 AM
 
Sweet. Can you say exactly what you did, or is that still classified? I should warn you, MacNN is "friggin dead" now.
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 23, 2008, 10:39 AM
 
Just Apple retail, as a fun diversion after college. Now it's time to buckle down and make use of my information systems degree.
     
seanc
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Aug 23, 2008, 10:55 AM
 
Welcome back!
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 23, 2008, 11:56 AM
 
Hey, welcome back.
(I'm still surprised why Apple is so strict with its sales people about this.)
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
amazing
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Aug 23, 2008, 11:56 AM
 
Grürtze!

Have a wonderful move back to der Schweiz, and it'll be great to have you back!
     
ghporter
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Aug 23, 2008, 12:02 PM
 
WELCOME BACK! It's been "interesting" in a whole lot of ways.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Cold Warrior
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Aug 23, 2008, 12:07 PM
 
Welcome back. Don't be a stranger. It sounds like you're from Switzerland from the 'moving back' phrase -- I imagine it's a beautiful place to live.
     
design219
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Aug 23, 2008, 02:21 PM
 
I didn't know Apple had a problem with employees participating in forums. How do they know?
__________________________________________________

My stupid iPhone game: Nesen Probe, it's rather old, annoying and pointless, but it's free.
Was free. Now it's gone. Never to be seen again.
Off to join its brother and sister apps that could not
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turtle777
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Aug 23, 2008, 02:51 PM
 
Welcome back.

Where about in Switzerland are you going to move to ?
It's a beautiful place to live in, for sure.

-t
     
Rumor
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Aug 23, 2008, 03:13 PM
 
WB Tooki.

Any new tats or piercings?
I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
     
Jawbone54
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Aug 23, 2008, 04:32 PM
 
Welcome back, tooki. You're not doing an ad for Vista now that you're free, are you?
     
imitchellg5
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Aug 23, 2008, 07:37 PM
 
Welcome back! We all missed you I'm sure. Hopefully the place hasn't gone too down hill
     
Big Mac
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Aug 24, 2008, 02:20 AM
 
Welcome back, tooki.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Ω
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Aug 24, 2008, 09:08 AM
 
Nice to see you home tooki.
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voodoo
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Aug 24, 2008, 09:24 AM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
Welcome back. Don't be a stranger. It sounds like you're from Switzerland from the 'moving back' phrase -- I imagine it's a beautiful place to live.
Quoted for posterity.

Welcome back tooki.
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Dork.
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Aug 24, 2008, 09:30 AM
 
Originally Posted by design219 View Post
I didn't know Apple had a problem with employees participating in forums. How do they know?
Most big corporations have a problem with employees participating in forums on anything remotely company-related, because those posts may be seen to be representing the company, disclaimers be damned. And this applies especially for Apple Store employees, who (I assume) have no more information than anyone else on new products until right before release, but whose idle ramblings might be mistaken for inside information.

I used to work for a big, publically-traded company. Any posts on any of the stock trading forums, even on my own time, would have merited (at best) a stern talk with my boss, and probably much worse.

Welcome back!
     
Maflynn
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Aug 24, 2008, 11:25 AM
 
Welcome back!
     
sek929
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Aug 24, 2008, 11:28 AM
 
It just wasn't the same around here without your mushrooms.
     
rickey939
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Aug 24, 2008, 12:28 PM
 
tooki monster® is back!

Awesome.
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 24, 2008, 12:50 PM
 
Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
Welcome back. Don't be a stranger. It sounds like you're from Switzerland from the 'moving back' phrase -- I imagine it's a beautiful place to live.
I'm American (and Guatemalan, too), but grew up in Switzerland. I've basically been in the USA for school while maintaining Swiss residency. Now I'm pursuing citizenship.

And yes, it is gorgeous, though the natural beauty of the US northeast in autumn is not to be underestimated! And I do miss the thunderstorms of the South. Switzerland doesn't have too many of them!

Originally Posted by design219 View Post
I didn't know Apple had a problem with employees participating in forums. How do they know?
Oh, They know. Realistically, I don't know how much they can garner. But since Apple employees have in the past been fired and sued for it, I was not going to risk it, and consequently did not make a single post to NN while I was employed. It's not like I had time to mod here, anyway.

Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
Welcome back.

Where about in Switzerland are you going to move to ?
It's a beautiful place to live in, for sure.
I will be living in Uetikon am See, about 20 minutes outside of Zurich.

Originally Posted by Rumor View Post
WB Tooki.

Any new tats or piercings?
I'm afraid not. My pay wasn't good enough to have $ left over for ink.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 View Post
Welcome back, tooki. You're not doing an ad for Vista now that you're free, are you?
Oy gevalt. I hate Seinfeld.

antonio
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 24, 2008, 01:07 PM
 
So here's a brief overview of what's gone on in the mean time:

Personal life:
- My boyfriend and I (who are about to celebrate 3 years together in a week) got engaged, and will be getting a civil union in Switzerland.
- When my fiancé moved in, he came with a cat. We've since acquired a dog and a second cat. It's gonna cost me an effing fortune to move them, but they're coming along to CH.
- Began an online master's program in information systems at my alma mater.

Work:
- Began as part-time seasonal Mac Specialist for holiday 2006 at Annapolis store.
- Got promoted to full time in March '07.
- Was selected to go to San Francisco for MWSF '08, staffed the MacBook Air demo area.
- Moved to Columbia store in May '08.
- Left Apple August 22.
- In Switzerland, I'm going to be pursuing real IT work (ideally with Macs) but may initially take something with an Apple reseller in the area. (I am not pursuing a position with Apple Retail's upcoming Zurich stores.) If anyone has any leads, let me know!

Technology (thank goodness for employee discounts):
- I upgraded from my old 15" 1.25Ghz AlBook (2GB/100GB 7200RPM) to a Mac Pro (8x2.8/8GB/640GB,320GB,1TB HDs/8800GT/AirPort). Since my Killer App is Aperture, this makes things massively faster.
- I just added an entry level MacBook to the household arsenal, since the Mac Pro will be in shipping for who knows how long for the move.
- Upgraded my printer to a Canon MP970, which is killer.
- Got an iPhone, duh. AAPL gave it to me, yay.
- Got a Plantronics Bluetooth.
- Got an Apple TV.
- Got a 2G and 3G nano as gifts.
- Added a Tokina 12-24mm ultrawide lens and a used 70-210mm D lens to my D70s outfit.
- Got some Shure SE210's, which suck. Shure guy at Macworld gave me SE310's to replace them, which are much better.
- Got a set of the Monster Beats, since we'll be doing a lot of air travel and the noise canceling is nice.
- Got a Logitech Vision Pro webcam to replace my original iSight. The iSight looks much cooler, but causes way too many FireWire glitches.
- Got an EyeTV Hybrid, which I use to put TV shows from cable onto my iPhone.

Car:
- My old Civic died and I replaced it with an '05 Mazda 3 hatchback. It can seat 5 people and still have the dog in the back!

Feel free to ask anything you're curious about!
antonio
( Last edited by tooki; Aug 24, 2008 at 02:00 PM. )
     
KeriVit
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Aug 24, 2008, 04:23 PM
 
Sounds like things are going well for you! Congrats on your engagementt and good luck with your move. All that technology makes me drool. I can't wait to work again and make some much needed upgrades myself. 3 years with the same 2 computers is the longest I have ever gone! Also, I have that car- I think. I bought in 05, so it might be an 06. But, it's a great little car.

I'm glad your life is coming together nicely.
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 24, 2008, 04:59 PM
 
Congrats, tooki, I'm glad real life is working out for ya. Switzerland is a wonderful country, I've been in Zurich for my birthday two years ago and I immediately loved the city. Wouldn't mind working and living there (rumor has it you get used to their funny language, though*).

Glad to have you back on board.

* One colleague is German-Swiss, another former colleague is Italian-Swiss. I think I've been through all permutations about jokes on Swiss and Germans.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
lavar78
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Aug 24, 2008, 05:15 PM
 
Welcome back, tooki!

"I'm virtually bursting with adequatulence!" - Bill McNeal, NewsRadio
     
Oisín
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Aug 24, 2008, 05:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by KeriVit View Post
Sounds like things are going well for you! Congrats on your engagementt and good luck with your move. All that technology makes me drool. I can't wait to work again and make some much needed upgrades myself. 3 years with the same 2 computers is the longest I have ever gone! Also, I have that car- I think. I bought in 05, so it might be an 06. But, it's a great little car.

I'm glad your life is coming together nicely.
Agreed 100 per cent on the drooling part.


Welcome back, tookie-bird. Long time no see.
     
SSharon
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Aug 24, 2008, 07:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by design219 View Post
I didn't know Apple had a problem with employees participating in forums. How do they know?
They must have someone reading them, because 2 years ago I got a job offer from Apple based on posts they saw online.

Welcome back tooki! good luck with the big move. Do you already speak German or swiss-deutch or whatever they speak there?
AT&T iPhone 5S and 6; 13" MBP; MDD G4.
     
turtle777
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Aug 24, 2008, 07:34 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
Welcome back tooki! good luck with the big move. Do you already speak German or swiss-deutch or whatever they speak there?
I love Schwiizerdütsch. It sounds funny at first, but is very cute indeed.

I did not have great issues understanding it during my one year stint in Switzerland. Yes, some specific words you will have to figure out at first, but for the most part,I found it not too hard.

How well you do with it also depends on what area from Germany you come from. The South or Southwest, for instance, has a natural advantage.
For people from the far North, Schwiizerdütsch might actually remain mumbo-jumbo for a looooong time.

-t
     
SSharon
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Aug 24, 2008, 07:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
I love Schwiizerdütsch. It sounds funny at first, but is very cute indeed.

I did not have great issues understanding it during my one year stint in Switzerland. Yes, some specific words you will have to figure out at first, but for the most part,I found it not too hard.

How well you do with it also depends on what area from Germany you come from. The South or Southwest, for instance, has a natural advantage.
For people from the far North, Schwiizerdütsch might actually remain mumbo-jumbo for a looooong time.

-t
My uncle is a swiss citizen, but has lived in the US most of his life. He picked up German one summer while living around there. I don't have anyone else to compare his accent to so I have no idea whether it sounds funny to other people from different regions, but all languages I can't understand sound funny to me.
AT&T iPhone 5S and 6; 13" MBP; MDD G4.
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 24, 2008, 08:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
Welcome back tooki! good luck with the big move. Do you already speak German or swiss-deutch or whatever they speak there?
Yes, I am fluent in Swiss German and in standard German (albeit with the distinct Swiss accent).

I kinda gorged on tech while working at Apple, since even without an employee discount, electronics gear is way cheaper here than in Switzerland.

I've been considering buying a bunch of used camera gear here and selling it there -- a used Nikon or Canon lens there sells for the same or more than the same lens new here!

antonio
     
starman
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Aug 24, 2008, 09:10 PM
 
Welcome back!

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Brien
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Aug 25, 2008, 01:49 AM
 
Welcome back.
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 25, 2008, 05:37 AM
 
Originally Posted by tooki View Post
I've been considering buying a bunch of used camera gear here and selling it there -- a used Nikon or Canon lens there sells for the same or more than the same lens new here!
Definitely buy it in the US, it's much cheaper. I've bought a D80 and a 80-200 Nikkor during my four-month stay in Berkeley last year. Otherwise, I couldn't have afforded it.
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ctt1wbw
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Aug 25, 2008, 05:57 AM
 
Originally Posted by Dork. View Post
Most big corporations have a problem with employees participating in forums on anything remotely company-related, because those posts may be seen to be representing the company, disclaimers be damned. And this applies especially for Apple Store employees, who (I assume) have no more information than anyone else on new products until right before release, but whose idle ramblings might be mistaken for inside information.

I used to work for a big, publically-traded company. Any posts on any of the stock trading forums, even on my own time, would have merited (at best) a stern talk with my boss, and probably much worse.

Welcome back!

And how would they know, exactly? Do they route your home IP traffic to the company wan or something? I'm very curious to know why participating in forums is wrong say, if you work for Apple? Doesn't that sort of violate the whole free speech thing?
     
ctt1wbw
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Aug 25, 2008, 05:58 AM
 
Originally Posted by Dork. View Post
Most big corporations have a problem with employees participating in forums on anything remotely company-related, because those posts may be seen to be representing the company, disclaimers be damned. And this applies especially for Apple Store employees, who (I assume) have no more information than anyone else on new products until right before release, but whose idle ramblings might be mistaken for inside information.

I used to work for a big, publically-traded company. Any posts on any of the stock trading forums, even on my own time, would have merited (at best) a stern talk with my boss, and probably much worse.

Welcome back!

And how would they know, exactly? Do they route your home IP traffic to the company wan or something? I'm very curious to know why participating in forums is wrong say, if you work for Apple? Doesn't that sort of violate the whole free speech thing?
     
Dakar the Fourth
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Aug 25, 2008, 08:10 AM
 
Well, well, well, if it isn't the return of the prodigal son.
(just kidding – welcome back and other such clichéd greetings)
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 25, 2008, 03:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by ctt1wbw View Post
And how would they know, exactly? Do they route your home IP traffic to the company wan or something? I'm very curious to know why participating in forums is wrong say, if you work for Apple? Doesn't that sort of violate the whole free speech thing?
Some people are stupid enough to post publicly that they're an Apple employee. Once you have someone's screen name or member name on a forum or something, it's not terribly difficult to track them down. And gawd help you if you're stupid enough to post photos of the inside of a non-public area of Apple. (Pretty standard for any big company, I think.)

America's constitution says that the Federal government cannot restrict free speech, and the state constitutions all restrict their state governments similarly. They do NOT restrict you into entering into a contract with a private entity that specifies what you can and cannot say. When you go to work for many companies, they require you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, intellectual property agreement, or something similar, and often a non-compete agreement or an agreement requiring you to avoid conflicts of interest. Most of those are legally enforceable if they are "reasonable". For example, it's reasonable to be required not to disclose an employer's customer database or trade secrets, or to require you not to work for a competitor at the same time. On the other hand, many jurisdictions do not consider it enforceable if you had a clause prohibiting you from working in the same industry anywhere in a 200-mile radius for 3 years after leaving the job; that's considered unreasonable. (I was once asked to sign an asinine non-compete agreement for a writing gig, prohibiting me from writing about the same topic for 18 months anywhere in the US. I didn't sign it.)

antonio
     
design219
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Aug 25, 2008, 04:39 PM
 
So is this place seem dead compaired to when you left?
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Was free. Now it's gone. Never to be seen again.
Off to join its brother and sister apps that could not
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Dakar the Fourth
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Aug 25, 2008, 04:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by design219 View Post
So is this place seem dead compaired to when you left?
You am answer the question now.
     
Timo
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Aug 25, 2008, 04:50 PM
 
Hey tooki, welcome back. Sounds like you've got an interesting path ahead.
     
tooki  (op)
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Aug 25, 2008, 05:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by design219 View Post
So is this place seem dead compaired to when you left?
Seems slightly slower than when I left. It'd already died down a lot compared to, say, 5 years ago.

antonio
     
rickey939
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Aug 25, 2008, 05:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by tooki View Post
Seems slightly slower than when I left. It'd already died down a lot compared to, say, 5 years ago.

antonio
BIG time.
     
starman
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Aug 25, 2008, 06:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by tooki View Post
Seems slightly slower than when I left. It'd already died down a lot compared to, say, 5 years ago.

antonio
You got that right.

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- - e r i k - -
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Aug 25, 2008, 09:07 PM
 
I think the DBGFHRGL thread was re-made in your honour.

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Randman
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Aug 26, 2008, 12:12 AM
 
Sounds like life is good for you, good on ya.

I love Zurich and the area around it. Spending a few days three then taking a train down through Lugano and Milan was still one of my better European holidays.

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
Simon
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Aug 26, 2008, 04:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
How well you do with it also depends on what area from Germany you come from. The South or Southwest, for instance, has a natural advantage.
For people from the far North, Schwiizerdütsch might actually remain mumbo-jumbo for a looooong time.
I always had a good laugh when people in Switzerland gave a talk in what they thought was High German and some Germans in the audience actually thought that was Swiss German. Not by a long shot. If you take a guy from Wallis and let him explain something to a German, the guy won't stand the slightest chance. Not even if he's from Schwaben.

I found German a really difficult language to learn. But once you get German right you can learn Swiss German fairly well. The accent is really difficult (a bit similar to Dutch), but the grammar is easier (less tenses than standard German) and the vocabulary is somewhat special, but easily memorable.

Oh and BTW welcome back, tooki! (although I guess we already kinda did that over PM)
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 26, 2008, 05:21 AM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
I always had a good laugh when people in Switzerland gave a talk in what they thought was High German and some Germans in the audience actually thought that was Swiss German. Not by a long shot.
I heard that this pisses Swiss Germans off quite a bit:
German comes to Switzerland. Talks to Swiss German. The Swiss German speaks in `Schriftdeutsch' (= written German) and the German says `Oh, Schweizerdeutsch (= Swiss German) is not so hard to understand after all!'
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Simon
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Aug 26, 2008, 06:46 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I heard that this pisses Swiss Germans off quite a bit:
German comes to Switzerland. Talks to Swiss German. The Swiss German speaks in `Schriftdeutsch' (= written German) and the German says `Oh, Schweizerdeutsch (= Swiss German) is not so hard to understand after all!'
Yep. That really pisses the Swiss off to no end. I experienced such a situation first hand and it was really funny to observe. The German guy thinks he's a hero because he "got it" right away. The Swiss guy thinks the German guy's an idiot for a) criticizing his "High German" and b) preposterously assuming a German could understand Swiss dialect so easily.

In general I got the impression that the Swiss (at least those in the German-speaking part) and the Germans have a very delicate relationship. The Germans tend to really like Switzerland but are also amused with the Swiss-specific particularities. The Swiss on the other hand are somewhat suspicious of their big neighbors and are easily intimidated by their eloquence. I often wondered is deep down the Swiss were afraid to admit that all dialect aside they just weren't as different from the Germans as they would like to be.
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 26, 2008, 07:25 AM
 
Right. I was surprised to hear that Germans are not all that popular in Switzerland. We have a reputation of being arrogant and loud. Swiss, on the other hand, are well-liked by Germans. They have a reputation of being somewhat slower (`denen kann man beim Laufen die Schuhe besohlen'), but Germans appreciate their reputation of being exact, tidy and well-organized.

Although I've heard from a friend who works in Switzerland for quite some time now (a German with last name Schweizer!) that there are some differences (e. g. on what is considered punctual), I agree that they are not all that different from Germans and Austrians.
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Oisín
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Aug 26, 2008, 08:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I heard that this pisses Swiss Germans off quite a bit:
German comes to Switzerland. Talks to Swiss German. The Swiss German speaks in `Schriftdeutsch' (= written German) and the German says `Oh, Schweizerdeutsch (= Swiss German) is not so hard to understand after all!'
Exactly the same situation exists up here. Many a time, a Dane talking to a Swede will do his utmost to speak as perfect Rikssvenska as he possibly can—only then to have the damn Swede reply, “Wow, your Danish is so clear and easy to understand”.
     
 
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